Johannes Leonardo and real estate development firm GDSNY are standing up to Trump’s border wall with inspiring new campaign through the #WallThatUnites.
Several months ago, GDSNY approached Johannes Leonardo with an opportunity – a media placement had become available on the side of a building right on the Chelsea highline.
Paul Gregson a senior art director from Manchester, England and several other creatives were looking for a vehicle to voice their dissent towards Trump’s border wall which led to #WallThatUnites, a giant digital wall made up of real world street art, created with messages of hope and acceptance.
“There was an overwhelming sense of helplessness regarding the Mexico border wall,” said Gregson, in a statement. “People in the agency were looking for ways to let Washington know that we didn’t think this was right. At the same time this wall in Chelsea popped up, so we turned our attention to an outdoor idea that would resonate with the way people were feeling.”
From there the project grew into a movement that uses wall art to offset Trump’s border wall.
“Trump’s border wall is 1900 miles of intolerance, division and stupidity. It was giving walls a bad name, so we wondered if we could use walls for good” said associate creative director Omid Amidi, who is originally from Libya.
The project encourages people to create street art with themes of unity and tolerance and post photos of them to Instagram under #wallthatunites.
From here the Wall that Unites team stitches the walls together digitally to create a much larger wall. The plan is to create enough positive wall art that when combined together will stretch longer than Trump’s border wall – 1900 miles.
“We realise it’s a pretty audacious goal but the reaction from people so far has been great, it really feels like we’ve tapped into something that people care about,” added Argentina-born associate creative director Joaquin Lynch Garay.
